Over the past decades, welding has become a dominant process in fabricating industrial and commercial products. Applications for welding are widespread and used throughout the world. Examples include the construction of ships, buildings, vehicles and pipe lines. Welding is also used in repairing or modifying existing products.
Large volumes of welding wire, or electrodes, may be stored and shipped in drums or boxes containing a central core designed to prevent shifting of the wire during transport or payoff of the wire. Even when such central cores are provided, there remains the possibility that the uppermost loops of the coiled wire may fall between the coiled wire and the core, resulting in wire tangles and the resultant downtime in remediating such tangles.